Our hunt was scheduled to start on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 . The folks on this hunt consisted of Jason, my oldest son, Darin, my youngest son, and Jon Keller, my adopted son, not really but he is of that age and we worked together at the Rich Ranch for several years and have become good friends. I called them "My Three Sons."  It was a fun time for me just being with the three of them. Also joining us at camp by hiking in were Ryan Chapin and his brother Austin. Ryan also worked at the Rich Ranch with Jon and I. Ryan and Austin were leaving a couple of days early and would meet us after hunting their way into camp.  So there would be five young fellows and one cranky old packer in camp!

 I had made a seven-mule hay run on Sept. 25 fourteen miles into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. When I reached the small clearing where we were to hunt, I headed up the valley and was soon at our camp site. I unloaded the hay. We will be located near a crystal clear stream. The high line for the horses will be located a good distance from the creek in a grove big and tall Spruce trees, with the tent setting on a small rocky rise so the snow melt or rain will run away from the tent in all directions. I stayed over night and headed out on Tuesday up the valley so I wouldn't have to travel the same trail that I had come in on. I had to hustle out as Jason was planning to be at my house in Potomac , Montana that afternoon and we had to pack all the food into the bear proof boxes for the trip back into the Bob the next morning. As I passed Ryan and Austin 's camp at the head of this 5 mile long valley, I saw that they had already downed one elk. Only half of the elk was hanging in the tree and there was a note saying that they were packing the other half of the elk out. Since I had empty mules, I loaded the remaining elk meat and the hide on the mules and headed down the trail out of the Bob. I met the boys not very far from the trail head, as they were headed back in to get the rest of the elk. They were overjoyed that I had the meat and hide on my mules. Ryan and Austin turned around and headed back to the trailhead so they could deliver their meat to Jim Herncane, the meat cutter in Seeley Lake and the hide to Mountain Creek Taxidermy, owned by Robby Henrekin. 

 Not very many people would hike into the Bob hunting elk and expect to haul it out on their backs. I know I sure would never try such a feat. I have to think that anyone that would try such a thing would have to a few bricks short of a full load! As they walked down the trail behind me, they explained that it was Austin who had shot the elk. Ryan bugled the elk within 25 yards of Austin only a mile from their camp. The bull was a nice 5 X 6, with good brow tines.  They had packed out 2 quarters, weighing around 100 pounds each, on their back that morning. After reaching the trail head, the boys helped me unload the meat from the mules and load the horses and mules into the trailer. Then we all headed out and promised to meet at camp the next day.

The alarm went off at  six o'clock  Wednesday. Jon was to arrive at seven as he had driven into Missoula from Boise at two AM .  After catching and saddling three horses and five mules, we headed to the trail head about 9 that morning. The trip into the hills was easy as I had Jon, Darin and Jason to load the mules. They are much younger than I so I told them that I was not lifting a pack! The first few miles of the trail had been burned by a fire in 2000. Jon and I knew the trail well as we had cleared the trail of dangerous trees in the spring of 2001 under an USFS contract. It was a nice trip into the Bob along the creeks filled with rapids and over the pass on the tree lined trail.

We arrived at the camp site, set camp and still had some time for the boys to do a little hunting. I was a little pooped so stayed in camp to be cook. Being a dairy farmer all my life and used to hard work, I am not used to getting tired. But then again, I am not as young as I used to be. We would be having a meal of spaghetti made with elk burger that was packed out of the same canyon the year before. The boys didn't see any elk that evening but they ate up all the spaghetti anyway. Ryan and Austin had said that they were going to be at our camp that afternoon, but as we finished dinner, they were still no where in sight and it was dark. I was wondering if they had another elk down. They soon showed up looking tired and dirty. They had put up their tents at a camp a mile up the valley. It was Howard's and his wife Barb's camp, they are from Kalispell. Howard was not happy when he saw someone's tents right next to his. Ryan had to explain that they had thought it was my camp so Howard calmed down and invited them to say for the night. Ryan and Austin respectively declined Howard's offer. They then had to pack up their tents and hike a mile down the trail to our camp. It was a trying day for Ryan and Austin after a day of hunting and seeing no elk and camping in the wrong camp! The next morning we were up at 5 to feed the horses and catch the mules. The horses need at least 2 hours of eating hay and pellets every morning and night to get enough feed into them for the hunting trips up and down the rugged Rocky Mountains .

That morning Jon, Ryan and Austin walked out of camp, hunting right up the hill from camp, which is too steep, rugged and cliffy for the horses. Jason, Darin and I saddled one horse and 2 mules (Darin and I were riding mules this trip. Darin on Red Ryder and me on Willie). Three miles up the valley from camp, Jason spotted several elk and deer high on the side of the mountain in a snow slide area that is void of timber. They were over a mile away and most of that mile was up a steep hill. We spurred the riding stock up the mountain in the concealment of the heavy timber to the left of the bear grass filled snow slide area. I knew we had to hurry as the sun was coming up and the elk would soon be melting into the darkness of the cool, dark timber to avoid the heat of the late morning sun. Our riding animals tired as we switched back up through the trail less timber, but I knew they could rest when we reached an area where we could stalk the elk on foot. We pushed them hard for over 30 minutes, which seemed like two hours. We were so excited to get to the elk, but the poor animals could only travel up the steep hill at a slow walk. As we grew closer to the elk, we dismounted and tied the animals at the edge of the heavy lodge pole pine. We continued quietly on foot, zigzagging through some small sub alpine fir about ten to twelve feet tall, so the noise of our animals would not spook the elk. Jason and Darin were sneaking side hill to get below the elk and I headed higher to cut off the escape route of the elk in case Jason missed his shot. Jason shot his elk from 250 yards and took the big six by six down with 2 shots. As he was shooting the big herd bull, 8 or 10 elk, which we had not seen before, came out of the small sub alpine fir about 100 yards below the big bull. There were two smaller satellite bulls in this bunch. I took one of them down as they ran full tilt into the cover of lodge pole pine. It was a joyous time for dad and his two sons. Now the work starts.

Jason Woodside, Jon Keller, Austin Chapin, Ray Woodside, and Ryan Chapin

The loading part was a little tricky as the hillside was so steep and covered with slippery bear grass which usually covers the snow slide chute areas in this part of the Rocky Mountains . 

Shania and Jody were the 2 mules I selected to haul the big bull. They are both out of Percheron mares and are big, black and rugged mules built just for this kind of work. The hill was so steep that I didn't want to load the big six by six head on the mules so Jason packed it down to flatter ground were my bull had fallen, a distance of 400 yards.  Jason, being a big fellow of six feet and 240 pounds, had the head on his shoulders with the rack hanging down on both sides of him. When the head got a little heavy, all he had to do was squat down a little and the top tines would rest on the ground and take the weight off of his shoulders. After skinning, quartering and loading my bull and both heads and hides, we headed the 4 miles back to camp. This time we had both heads and hides top packed on the mules carrying my smaller bull. That was a great relief to Jason as he thought he may have to carry the big bull's head all the way back to camp! The ride back to camp down the steep hill was slow and no one was talking.  As the golden sun was dropping out of the cloudless sky behind the crest of the hill many happy thoughts came to me mind. From when I first took the boys hunting in Washington as twelve year olds to what a fantastic hunt this was, a big game hunt in Montana with the people that mean the most to me. We arrived back at camp at 5 o'clock , a tired but happy lot!

After arriving at camp, we unloaded and cleaned the quarters to ready them for transport out to Jim, the meat cutter, the next day. While we were cleaning up, just before dark, Ryan and Jon came into camp. Ryan was quite excited as he had seen two nice four by four mule deer with over a 20 inch spread at the top of the ridge on the north side of the valley. They were silhouetted on the ridge about 400 yards away. Ryan hiked up another 150 yards and harvested the bigger of the two.  The next day Darin and I would haul the 2 elk out of the hills on our 4 pack animals and Ryan and Jason would ride 2 horses up the mountain on a game trail and pack the mule deer down on one of the riding horses. Jon and Austin would hike up the hill on this day to see if they could get close enough to an elk that Austin had seen the day before to get a shot at it.

Darin and I delivered the two elk to Jim and headed back into the hills. We arrived at camp tired but still smiling as we got a first look at Ryan's big four by four mule deer. At dark Jon and Austin came into camp with Austin having a small two point mule deer slung over his back like some kind of mountain man! Blood all over him and telling us that it took them all day to harvest this small buck. It seemed that they were up to something or that they had a screw lose (which I still believe to be true!), but they were just telling a story to set the stage for a bigger story about the four by four bull elk that Jon had harvested up the mountain, in a basin just below the highest peak on the north side of the valley. It was Jon's first personal elk harvest, although he had guided several hunters to elk, so we were all happy for Jon.  

Five o'clock on Saturday the alarm clock was ringing again as we had to haul Jon's elk out of the high basin. Jon and Austin had hiked straight up the steep hill side hunting the elk, which is easy for someone young and in good shape like they are. I knew a game trail that was much longer but easier, as the animals had better footing and the trail wasn't as steep, for the animals to reach the basin. We were also looking for a deer for Jason. After helping Jon load his elk, he headed back down the hill with the two mules and elk while Jason, Darin and I stayed up in the high country looking for a deer for Jason. Seeing none by noon , we also headed back down the hill as the deer will bed down in the shade of the timber during the hot part of the day.  

(Jason with younger brother Darin with 2 of our elk)

Ryan decided that he and Austin could walk 2 mules, as the country was too steep and rocky to ride horses, up to the kill site and camp over night and come back early the next morning so I could have the pack animals to get Darin and Jon with his elk out to the trail head. Darin had to go back to work and Jon had to head back to grad school at Boise State . 

Sunday morning Ryan and Austin came into camp at 10:30 with only 3 quarters of Ryan's elk. A bear had stolen one rear quarter and the hide during the night as they slept only 300 yards away. They were a little spooked but were happy that I had made them carry a rifle the day before. We quickly unloaded Ryan's elk and loaded Jon's elk so he could take it out to Jim. We also had to haul out the two deer the Chapin boys had shot. The trip to the trail head with Jon and Darin was uneventful except for one exciting moment where the trail was lined with trees. Jon was in front with Darin right behind him leading 2 pack animals, I was behind Darin's pack animals. All of a sudden Jon jumped off his horse and started throwing rocks at a tree. With about the fifth rock launched from Jon's grip, Darin yelled, “You got him," at which time Jon ran to the base of the tree and grabbed up a grouse and rung his neck. Jon then started throwing rocks at a tree on the other side of the trail. By this time Darin had joined in on the rock throwing at a second grouse. It didn't take very long and the second grouse came tumbling down. Jon brought the two dead grouse back and put his latest kills in a pannier on my lead mule. Jon said he would have them for dinner!  Upon arriving at the trailhead we unloaded the gear and meat into Darin's pickup. I bid Jon and Darin farewell and headed the 14 miles back into camp with seven empty animals in tow behind my riding horse. Jason and Ryan spent the day cleaning up the deer and elk heads for transport to the trail head the next day, Monday. Austin also headed for the trailhead on Sunday but on foot.

Monday morning we were up early again as Ryan was headed out with his elk, at least the part the bear didn't get. Jason and I had a restful morning after getting Ryan on the trail. After lunch Jason and I headed up the hill to do some evening hunting for his mule deer. We saw none and arrived back at camp a hour after dark. Ryan arrived just before we did. We were all tired and hit the sleeping bags early, after packing part of our gear, as we had to break camp the next morning.

Taking down and packing camp takes 2 or 3 hours, but with Jason and Ryan to help, it was an easy task. We hit the trail for our final trip out of the wilderness this year at 10:30 Tuesday morning headed for the trailhead four hours and 14 miles away.

It was a hunt of a life time for all of us. Me, my boys, the land and the animals!!!!!!!